Injuries killed the Indians this year. A red hot Grady Sizemore earlier in the season has been reduced to a has been who can't even make enough contact to foul a ball off and stay alive during his at bats. Shin Soo Choo's run in with a pitch has only snowballed and Travis Hafner couldn't play a whole season to save his life. I mean, it's baseball. I've played for years, since I was like 12, and never once got hurt. Either that or I played through it, knowing what was on the line, winning.
The best team in Baseball in May could end up having one of the worst post All Star Game records. This has happened for many reasons. Injuries, competitors got hot, pointless trades, and lack of needed acquisitions. Ubaldo was a bust, is a bust, and will be a bust next year. He will be the set back for the Indians in 2012. The Indians already have an Ubaldo Jimenez, his name is Fausto Carmona. One hit wonder with a near 20 win season, then what?
I love that the Tribe brought back Jim Thome, and to be honest, I hope he sticks around for one more year. He is nowhere near the Thome we all saw back in the 90's, but makes us feel good as fans. Fukodome needs to be gone next year as well.
The question I have regarding the two questionable trades the Indians made is, if you aren't going to make a trade that actually fits a glaring need, why do it? The Indians didn't fix any holes, bring any bats to the lineup, and possibly made the rotation weaker. If you're gonna lose, why now lose while allowing some of the younger talent to gain experience. The trades the Indians made were smoke screens, they knew the fans wanted something done, so they made trades. They made trades that made financial sense for a "cheap" owner with has been players that once made regular appearances on ESPN. Those trades were for us, not for the benefit of the team.
On to the positives. Asdrubal Cabrera, dude lit it up this year. I couldn't be more proud of this guy. I hope he stays around for a long time. Given he had a rough August, Cabrera has been a clutch player for this team all year long. Jason Kipnis will be a solid addition next year so long as he can stay on the field and gain momentum from his success this year. I am excited to see what this kid does.
Justin Masterson deserves his own paragraph for the effort he provided this year. Masterson reminded me of Cliff Lee in 2008, always on, and throwing his best stuff. Masterson couldn't get any run support and I would have put this guy in the top 5 for the AL Cy Young award.
The Indians bullpen was very reliable this year when given the opportunity. If the Tribe starters could make it through the 6th, the Indians bullpen was pretty solid. Joe Smith, Vinny Pestano, Rafael Perez, and Tony Sipp were all solid set up guys....I don't want to talk about Chris Perez, he closed out a lot of games, but it was typical Cleveland style, near cardiac arrest every time out for us fans.
One thing I know for sure, next year will either be really good, or it will be really bad. I hope management doens't blow up the team this year. I hope they keep what they have, make a few key additions (means spend $$$$) and possibly send a few guys packing like Grady, Hafner, Dolan, and Carmona.
I hope I am wrong, maybe the Indians will pull together a 12-15 game winning streak and Detroit will go cold. I think I'll just call it now, It's OVER.
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